The Tournament
by Randomuso
Summary: In two weeks, the Tournament will take place, and prospective Masters are lurking around every corner. Very OCy, based before my other story involving the same characters   The Padawan Mission
1. Chapter 1

_**Well, here we go, another story on our little OC gang. I'm not all that sure how this one will turn out, but it is based before The Padawan Mission, compassing the time two weeks before the light sabre tournament, and maybe a little while afterwards. This will be mostly about my little gang meeting and getting together, and the relations between my Padawans and their Masters. **_

_**As always, feel free to correct any inaccuracies, of which I am sure there are plenty. Just a bit of a warning, I am completely making up the process of Padawan acceptance, and I'm making up the katas, and if something I've written is wrong and it's bugging you, please tell me and I'll fix it up, if I can.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars. I do, however, own Corrie, Lolee Arak, Crawen, Macu and Jonah, as well as a few randoms that pop up…**_

_**That was an awfully long A/N…here's the story!**_

PADAWAN LIGHT SABRE TOURNAMENT-TWO WEEKS

_Eligible competitors who wish to be in the competition _

_must sign up with Master Windu_

Arak's eyes widened considerably. Two weeks…that was close. That was too close. She couldn't train up for the most important competition of her younger life, not in two weeks! Biting her lower lip very nervously, she glanced around the hallway. No other people her age seemed to be around. The other 'eligible competitors' were nowhere to be seen. A hand suddenly rested on her shoulder. Arak looked up at Master Windu as he smiled.

"Will you be signing up?" he 'asked'. It was obvious he was expecting her to say yes. Arak _was_ top of her class.

Licking her lips compulsively, she nodded slowly. "I-I think so, Master Windu."

The light sabre tutor smiled and nodded. "You will do well, I'm sure."

As he walked away, Arak's eyes popped. Had he just insinuated…did he just imply…did he want her for an Apprentice? Shaking her head, Arak banished the thought from her head. Of course he hadn't, it was just her mind going into nervous overdrive. She began to move off, weaving through the Jedi in the halls in her scurrying fashion, thinking furiously. The next two weeks would be terrible. Knowing that potential masters were watching, all of the would-be Padawans would be suspicious of the others, showing off at every available opportunity, and the Masters would surely be distant and aloof for a while, not letting on their preferences. Tension would run high. Arak absolutely hated that kind of environment.

Grimacing, she walked in the direction of the Gardens. They were usually quiet at this time of day, allowing for uninterrupted practice. She _needed_ to practice if she was going to perform well in the tournament, and it wasn't like she had anyone to tell. She was a bit too shy to have made any great friendships, and she didn't really want to let on what she was planning for the Tournament. She may be mild mannered, but for some reason that she had not yet fully figured out, Arak found her centre in the light sabre. She was skittish and nervous around people, she had no real relations with anyone, but with the light sabre, nothing could go wrong unless she herself did it. Or something like that. Her philosophical mind was running on those kind of lines. In any case, she was closer to her weapon than she was to anyone else in the Temple, that was for sure.

As she drew her sabre, she inhaled deeply, centring herself, casting her mind to the III Form Kata that she was hoping to master in time for the competition. Drawing her blade through the air quickly, she moved quickly, cleaving air with every swing, suddenly drawing to a halt, swinging from side to side, before quickly setting off again.

The third form kata was difficult to master. The first was mainly defensive, the second mainly offensive. The third form kata was a mainly offensive form, introducing a very tiring, but very effective technique of stopping and starting, confusing the opponent.

She had it memorised, that was the easy part. She could complete most of the kata fluidly, with no stops, but for the bits she was practicing then. After that, it was only practice, getting it so firmly in her head, that she could attack and respond without thought. The process came to her naturally, and the focus it required, the slight detachment from reality that allowed her to react to her opponent as though they weren't actually there, all of it.

As she moved, however, something caught her eye, distracting her from her work. An all too familiar Iktotchi face peered at her from over the top of a book beside the fountain. As much as she hated to admit it, there was more than one reason Arak liked to practice in the Gardens. As soon as Crawen Tu Darchi saw that she had seen him, he flinched away, looking back to his book. Feeling a blush rise in her cheeks, Arak curled her lekku and returned to her practice, a small smile playing on her features. Crawen had liked what he had seen.

Taking a strong step forward, Macu threw his sabre up to catch the blow before quickly changing direction and striking back very strongly. The girl he faced was only slightly shorter than him, a tall, slender human with tan skin and thick, black curls that swung around her face and neck as she spun, dodging and turning away Macu's sabre. Her full lips curved into a proud smile, as she launched into another attack.

"You're going to have to do better than that, Rocktor." she taunted, but her green eyes were focussed and determined, and a sheen of sweat covered her face. She was working hard.

Sending another wave of intense blows at Jonah, Macu worked on tiring her down more, but she was very good, was Jonah. Their fight had already been going for a fair while. They were fairly evenly matched, and although they didn't really speak, as such, they were sparring buddies. They saw each other every so often, seeking the other out to arrange a practice session.

Seeing an opening in Jonah's most recent onslaught, Macu jumped in and delivered a burn to the human's exposed neck.

Giving a laugh, Jonah flicked her sabre off, reaching out for a towel. "Good match, Macu."

Smiling at the girl, Macu nodded and turned off his own weapon. It _had_ been a good match. And he wasn't just saying that because he had won.

Two other girls that had appeared sometime in the match stood up, one of them chatting excitedly to Jonah as she patted her face dry, the other nodding every now and then. The nodding girl was Reeka, another human, with long, soft, blonde hair and baby blue eyes. She was very quiet, but she seemed nice. The other girl, however, well, Rags was mon calamari, and she talked way too much, but Jonah seemed to like her. Rags was actually called Ragasin, but no-one used her real name. That was just about all Macu knew about her. He tried to distance himself from loud people.

Either way, they were Jonah's friends, not his, and it was none of his business who she chose to hang out with. As he turned to leave, however, a boy walked past.

He was short for his age, and his form was muscular, but small. His constantly laughing green eyes twinkled and his thin lipped mouth was always pulled into a smile. His black hair was fluffy and spiky, sticking out every which way, giving an apt rendition of the human as a whole; wild and uncontrollable. Unfortunately, Macu knew all about Coronarcher Soline. That grinning mouth held an all too quick tongue, and that head a deceptively intelligent, immature brain.

Jonah had obviously seen him too. She smiled brightly and there was genuine joy in her eyes as she watched him march purposefully by. Force, the kid was up to something…

Coronarcher waved to Jonah, and bounced over.

Macu took that as his cue to leave, sending a sneer to the smaller boy as he brushed past.

The humans barely took any notice of him.

Jonah saw Macu out of the corner of her eye, walking away with a sullen look. She felt kind of sorry for him. She didn't _know_ Macu all that well, she didn't think anyone knew Macu, but she must know him better than most. She sparred with him regularly, and had done for years, but that was their only contact. Hmm... It was a well-known fact that the Twi'lek and Corrie hated each other with a passion, but her fellow human, for once, didn't make any witty remarks or even try to trip the other. He was too excited. Corrie was on a mission. When he wasn't doing anything in particular, he just went with the flow, but when he was after something, everyone in the Temple knew.

"Jonah, Rags, Reeka, do you know of any potential Masters?" he demanded, eyes sharp.

Exchanging looks with her friends, Jonah shrugged. "I think Master Windu is looking." she said as Rags added, "I heard something about Master Su Bella being on the look out."

Jonah turned back to Corrie, watching as he processed that. He nodded slowly, storing the names in his amazing memory. Jonah had done the same, and now wracked her brains for mentions for potential Masters. The news that the Tournament was on in two weeks had been broken to them an hour or so ago, when Macu and Jonah had immediately had a sparring session. Jonah felt nerves build up at the bottom of her stomach. The sabre wasn't her best asset, and against the likes of the amazing Arak, Lolee-Corrie's rakata friend-and even Corrie himself, she knew she wouldn't get too far. Still, she knew that it wasn't just how well they did in the tournament that got them Apprenticed. The nerves she had beaten down with logic began to grow. She _really_ hoped she'd get picked. She had spent her entire life in the Temple, and she didn't want to waste her life in the Agricorps. This was her one and only chance, and she didn't want to screw it up.

Obviously, Corrie was confidence in clothes, as per usual, and he was just worried about who he might get. Thinking that added nerves about who her Master might be to the small bundle growing in her stomach.

"Hey, Corrie, you've gotta tell us who all of the Masters are!" she ordered. If anyone could find out who was on the lookout, it was Corrie.

He nodded, grinning and gave her a salute, starting to move off. "Give me until this afternoon, I'll give you the list and dinner." he told them, continuing his purposeful walk.

Rolling her eyes at him, she looked over at Reeka and Rags. Reeka had a small smile and a blush on her face, like she did whenever anyone spoke to her, but Rags was also giving Corrie exasperated looks. "Oi, Seline, you could just send it to our datapads!" Rags called after him.

Corrie spun around, walking backwards. "No, I can't. I really can't! Technology retarded, remember?"

Jonah saw it coming, but it was still hilarious to watch Coronarcher spin, straight into Master Obi-Wan.

Corrie gave an overly innocent grin to the Knight.

That seemed to be his defence mechanism. That and wit. Razor sharp wit. Come to think of it, no-one really knew Corrie all that well, either. He was tight with Lolee Marateer, a really strong, scarily fast rakata, and he was often seen with Crawen Tu Darchi, who was a bit of a bookworm, and a little shy and quiet for Jonah. Corrie was a little bit of an enigma. He was funny, and really easy to talk to, but he didn't really reveal too much about himself.

Master Obi-Wan looked down at the boy, crossing his arms and cocking an eyebrow. "Initiate Soline, didn't I send you on an errand?" he asked in his clipped accent.

Corrie nodded. "Yes, you did, sir."

Jonah hid a giggle behind her hand, biting her lip so as not to laugh like Rags was doing, rather uproarously.

"Well, you don't look like you're on your way to Master Hradin to me."

Corrie was about to speak, but the Knight continued speaking. "This isn't a very good way to get the attention of me, or any of the other Masters looking for apprentices."

Their laughter immediately cut short, and Corrie shot the Knight a very surprised look, covering it quickly with mock confusion. "I don't know, Master Obi-Wan, I think it gets your attention very well."

Master Obi-Wan gave Corrie a look and the boy blanched, saluting quickly. "I'm going."

The Knight shook his head and walked away.

That sent them straight back into hysterics again.

_**So, there's the first chapter. Hmm, a bit different to how the group was in my other story, hey? Well, we'll soon see how it all works out…**_

_**When I've finished this story, which could take any amount of time, I am at school at the moment, and playing a lot of cello, so updates are likely to be rather irregular…where was I?...Ah, yes, this story is mainly background information, the first in the series-even though I wrote it second-so I will be looking to my reviewers for requests for later stories in this series. I've put a poll up on my profile, so you can vote on who I should write about next. **_

_**Please keep reading! **_


	2. Chapter 2

The dining hall was packed when Lolee sat down at a relatively empty table. The other occupants were Crawen, opposite him, his analytical eyes trained on nothing in particular, and a gaggle of girls that were chatting excitedly. There were older, already accepted as Padawans. Twelve year olds weren't the only ones that had to worry about the Tournament. Seeing that Crawen wasn't completely with it, Lolee looked around, identifying his prospective competitors.

It had only been a day since the news had been released, and already, the Initiates were buzzing around, training three times as hard to try and earn some notice. Lolee had been training for most of the day, when he wasn't scouting for Corrie's cause.

The rakata was _good_. He knew that. His superior speed and strength leant themselves to physical prowess, and fortunately for him, the light sabre slotted nicely into that description. It was most definitely his strong suit. He might have to look out for people such as Jonah Driad and Macu Rocktor, and Corrie, when he thought about it. Jonah and Macu were both very good. They weren't amazing, but they trained with each other very often. Both were quick learners, and where Macu was strong to the point of madness, he also followed the rules a little too closely, a bit of a rote learner, which made him unflexible, both mentally and physically. What Jonah lacked in strength, she made up for in her awkwardly awesome reflexes and dodging abilities. She had a pretty strong defence, but if you forced her into an attack, she wouldn't do too well. As for Corrie, well, he wasn't all that good with a sabre, really. His style was more suited to fighting multiple opponents, or fending off blaster shots than to one on one duels. Corrie couldn't remember katas, and as Lolee knew all too well, that helped just as much, if not more, than it hindered. He was an epic improviser, mixing up katas and making up moves to attack and defend, and most of his wins came from shocking his opponent with his unpredictable actions.

Of course, Lolee's only real opponent, was Arak Tel Arvos. She was an unhealthily shy twi'lek, looking scared of everyone that tried to talk to her. The one time Lolee had had a conversation with her, she had proved to be a lovely, insightful and intuitive person, under the many layers of nerves and shyness. She was very smart, everyone knew that, very good with technology, but her social skills were as of yet, unused and unmapped. She was frightened of people, very unnoticeable. She faded into the background, almost invisible…and then you gave her a light sabre.

Arak was immensely skilled. She had the best endurance Lolee had ever seen. Her attack was amazing, her defence even better, her speed and strength shocking in comparison to her usual demeanour. She surprised everyone with her ferocity. She just didn't stop! Add to that her natural ability for the thorough, technical learning of katas, and the way she could swap between them at a moment's notice. What really scared people when they fought her, however, was the way she didn't seem all…there. It was as though she was just practicing, not actually fighting. Every move you could make, she could meet it perfectly. The only detail of her fighting Lolee could edge towards weakness, was that she just responded. She wasn't one to initiate attacks. Lolee felt kind of sorry for Arak. She was really lovely, and a very dangerous opponent, but no-one saw anything but the nervous, silent girl with wide, scared eyes, no matter how many times her inner fire was revealed through her sabre.

No-one really thought about her at all.

Except for Crawen.

Grinning, Lolee looked over at Cra. As predicted, his gaze had shifted onto Arak as she squished into a spot a few tables over. His expression was distant, his eyes rather dreamy. Lolee sniggered, and beckoned Corrie over as the human entered the hall. He arrived pretty quickly, sliding into the spot beside Lolee. They shared a snigger at Crawen's complete obliviousness.

Corrie put a pea on his spoon and catapulted it at the Iktotchi's head. It hit the boy in the cheek and flinched massively, almost falling off of his seat. Corrie and Lolee cracked up.

Cra turned, glaring at them venomously. "Shut up. Corrie, what's the news?"

At that, Lolee's laughter was quickly quelled. Despite having greater things to worry about, there was a nagging pain at the back of everyone's head. If they got picked, who did they want to be picked by? Were their enough spots for everyone? Of course, Coronarcher had thought of that first, and while everyone else was doing emergency practice, he'd been flitting around the Temple all day finding out which of the Masters were taking apprentices.

Corrie shook his head. "Hang on, come with me, we need to find the others."

By the others, he meant Arak, Jonah, Rags and Reeka. Ollisp and Crake-the Correllian twins-and Macu could be told later, although someone else would probably have to tell Macu. Corrie sure wouldn't.

The trio got up and wove through the crowd, squeezing into the girls table. Lolee called Arak over, and she curiously moved closer. Corrie set himself up smack bang in the middle. "Alright, after a lot of searching, I believe I have found all of the Masters looking to take Padawans."

He said 'Padawan' with an air of reverence. Everyone held their breath. Corrie was a dramatist. He liked suspense.

"There are only five Masters looking out for us."

Corrie's words hit them hard. Five wasn't even enough for their little group, let alone for all of the prospective Padawans. Everyone had known it was coming, but no-one had expected it quite like that.

"Master Swan, Master Obi-Wan, Master Windu, Master Mundi and Master Trovin."

Five very good Masters, high ranking, wise and immensely force-strong masters.

The looks that were passed around the little group gathered at the table were dangerous, filled with suspicion, as they sized up their new opponents.


	3. Chapter 3

Jonah's brow creased. Only five spots? She saw Reeka and Arak's faces fall. Lolee was shockingly hostile looking, and Corrie just seemed curious. Rags looked like she was about to fall out of her chair.

"But, I thought Rags said something about Master Su Bella?" she insisted, looking over at her mon calamari friend, before looking to Coronarcher.

He shook his head solemnly. "No, he leaves for the Outer Rim tomorrow."

Jonah fell back in her chair with a thump, and she felt the shock covering her face. She didn't doubt Corrie's information. He'd not yet been wrong about something like this.

Five spots.

Reaching out, she grabbed Rags' and Reeka's hands. She didn't want to lose her two best friends…

Dread pierced the bottom of her stomach. She didn't see any positive way to get out of this situation. No matter what happened, she was never going to see a lot of her friends again. Of course, she'd always known that'd be case, but now that the time was on her…

Looking around the table, she observed the people around her. She'd never noticed how close she'd actually gotten to all of this lot. Rags and Reeka were her best friends, but she had a soft spot for Arak, who she wanted to protect and she could definitely hold a conversation with Lolee. And she supposed Corrie was pretty cool.

She didn't want any of them to go.

"Good luck."

Jonah was almost surprised by the small, thin voice that rang out over the table. Arak. Turning, she smiled at the twi'lek.

Arak stood up and took her food over to an empty table, no doubt to process the information they'd just been given.

The lads, Cra, Corrie and Lolee looked at each other, squirming as an awkward silence grew between the group.

"What she said." Corrie said sadly, as he too, got to his feet and left. The other trailed after him and Jonah promptly initiated a three-way hug.

The next few weeks were going to be hell.

Jonah walked slowly down the hallways, wandering somewhat aimlessly. Her mind was still buzzing. Logic.

Yes, logic. She needed to think logically.

Five Masters were on the lookout.

There were dozens and dozens of prospective Padawans.

Lolee was almost guaranteed a spot for his amazing physical skills.

Corrie was in the same position for his strength in the force.

Arak…maybe. She was amazing with a light sabre, but so was Lolee, and she was a bit over-shy.

Other than that, she had no idea what to expect.

What happened now?

Did everything just keep going as per usual?

Would every day be the same, go to lessons, study, practice, run errnads…

No, everything would be different. Every word people said, every action, it would all take on a new meaning. What fun. Well, Jonah was very good in tense situations. She thrived in stressful spots where others lost their heads.

Ooh, Crawen…he was damn smart. That might get him a spot…

What about her? What did she have?

What about, Jonah Driad.

…

Nothing came to mind.

Jonah quickly skirted around thinking about that by walking into the Archives. If there was anything she hated, it was self-inspection. She may as well do some study. Exams weren't going to stop for the Light Sabre Tournament.

Having turned into the Archives, she almost immediately wished she hadn't, for standing, looking rather pensively into the middle distance, was Master Swan.

She was a stern, quite lovely lady, Master Swan, she taught the acrobatic class that Jonah had never excelled in. She had that certain quality that made you want to confess all of your secrets, and lay all of your guilt on her. She seemed to know about pranks before Corrie had implemented them-because, let's face it, where pranks were involved, it was always Corrie.

The woman smiled at her. "How are you this evening, Initiate Driad?"

Any hope that Jonah had had of backing silently into the hallway and running disappeared. She smiled back. "I'm quite well, thank you Master Swan. How are you?"

Continuing to smile pleasantly, the Master moved closer. "I'm feeling rather good myself, thank you, Jonah. So, what brings you to the Archives at this time of night?"

Jonah quickly wracked her brain for an excuse. Crap… "The Outer Rim. Geography, I've never been very good at it."

It was also quite impossible to lie to Master Swan.

Although her facial expression didn't change and she didn't say anything, Jonah felt very guilty all of a sudden, and she knew Master Swan knew she wasn't telling the truth. Well, it wasn't exactly her best lie.

Biting her lip, Jonah looked at the Master. She cocked an eyebrow, but her smile made sure Jonah knew it was ok.

"I'm sorry, Master Swan, I just wanted to get away from..." Knowing she couldn't adequately end that sentence, Jonah looked hopefully at the Master.

Master Swan nodded, putting an arm around Jonah and guiding her to a seat in a private spot where they could talk.

"So, let me guess…you're feeling overwhelmed because of the Tournament…suspicious of everyone, because of the Tournament…nerves, as well…"

Master Swan found the confirmation of her suspicions in the severely downtrodden look on Jonah's face. Downtrodden, yes, but not the pained look of before.

"Feeling a bit useless?"

Laughing at the blunt delivery, Jonah nodded, getting angry at the tears pooling in her eyes.

"Little bit, yeah."

Master Swan grinned, sharing in Jonah's brief smile. "Well, don't. You may not show your skills quite as obviously as, say, Initiate Soline, or Marateer, but they're definitely there." She hesitated a little, before adding, "And I know for a fact a couple of people have their eye on you."

Jonah's head swung up with force, but Master Swan was already leaving.

**Sorry it took me so long to update, but school started, and I swapped music teachers, and I'm working on a Hunger Games fic., but now I'm into the swing of things, I'mm try and update more often!**


	4. Chapter 4

Breathing in deeply, Crawen massaged his temples, hoping to rid himself of the sharp ache that had taken up residence behind his eyes. It had been there for a week, constant and unrelenting, as the competing, prospective Padawans got tenser and more mistrusting. Cra sat there and watched in wonder as life-long friends began to hate each other. It was really quite amazing how competition and stress could transform people. It was a most interesting thing to watch, but it got on your nerves after a while. Even Crawen's analytical mind got sick of tension eventually. He hated being in the same room as anyone that was going to enter the Tournament. They all glared at each other and at him with a nervous, fiery passion. Considering they were all in training to be Jedi, it was pretty un-Jedi ish of them.

The only person Cra could bear being in a room with was Arak, because she analysed people the same way. Cra was the only person she opened up to. They chatted and chatted for hours on end, at first, about how stupid everyone was being, and later on about more things…more personal things…

Of course, Arak was usually off practicing, which left Cra in the company of Corrie and Lolee, whose bantering, although it remained unaffected by the Tournament, was still bloody annoying.

Sitting as they were, in a study room, various Masters kept a continuous stream of supervision going, which Cra found almost as distracting as the banter, mainly because, as much as he hated it, he found himself trying to look better at…reading…subconsciously hoping to impress them, just in case it was one of the Masters looking for an Apprentice. Then again, he didn't have much competition, considering the only other Initiates in the room were flicking each other on the ear.

Rolling his eyes, Crawen began to curse masters that were looking for padawans. Holding back a growl, he tried to focus on astronavigation.

That was, of course, when the immature lads with him turned their caring affections onto him.

At first he tried to ignore them, but quickly descended into swatting their hands away, until he finally spun around, slamming his hands onto the desk. "I swear, if you touch me again, Seline, I'll cut off your balls and use them for-"

Crawen trailed off as he sensed another presence enter the room behind him.

He felt the blood leech from his face.

Corrie and Lolee barely stifled giggles.

"Please finish that sentence, Initiate Tu Darchi."

Crawen grimaced. "I'd really rather not, Master Arrolin." Heat flew up his neck and face.

Master Arrolin put a hand on the iktotchi's shoulder as the other two cracked up. He smoothly raised an eyebrow. "Well, boys, at least he's doing some work."

The other two quickly supressed their giggles, murmuring apologies to the Master and returning to their books with only the occasional snigger.

Master Arrolin smirked, as did Crawen. "Finally, some quiet, thank you very much, Master Arrolin."

"Any time, Crawen."

The Master left, leaving an astonished Corrie and Lolee and a rather smug Cra in his wake.

Since when had those two been so easy with each other?

Corrie and Lolee gaped at the companionship the pair had just shown.

"You know, that would have been much more impressive if he was actually looking for an Apprentice."

Apparently Macu was in the room as well.

Crawen's face immediately fell, his smug smirk retreating into memory. He was only really confident around Corrie and Lolee, and this obvious tease from Macu had dealt a sharp blow to his self-confidence.

Cra quickly buried his head back into his datapad.

Macu laughed, and Corrie promptly threw a book at him. "Shut up and get out of here, Rocktor."

The book hit the side of Macu's head and the twi'lek glared whole-heartedly at the human, but he left.

Crawen felt the blush in his cheeks. Macu scared him, and he was so embarrassed that he needed his friends to protect him. He'd probably use Corrie's balls for himself, if he cut them off. Force, but he needed them.

Sick of constantly hiding behind his books and his friends, sick of being scared, Cra packed up his stuff. The stress had finally gotten to him. He needed to leave.

The others understood.

Lolee clapped him on the back as he left, and both boys murmured something unintelligible, the mood in the room, effectively killed.

Cursing Macu, Crawen stared at the ground and hurried out to the fountain. He needed to be alone.


	5. Chapter 5

Corrie stared after Crawen as he left the room, looking absolutely terrible. He felt a familiar rage bubble up inside his chest as he looked the other way at Macu's retreating back. Without meaning to do it, Corrie's fists balled up and all of his muscles tensed. He hated that damn twi'lek so much!

A hand on his arm made him look up at Lolee's worried face. "Come on, man, we've already got enough to deal with without you starting a war with Rocktor." he said softly.

Slowly, Corrie's face softened, and his tensed muscles relaxed. He leant forward, burying his face in his arms. Giving a muffled shriek to let off some steam, he sat up again as refreshed as ever.

"So, where were we?" he queried.

Lolee shrugged, picking despondently at a loose weave of fabric.

"Oh, and you're telling me we have enough to worry about. Look at you, Mr Smiles!"

The rakata looked over for long enough to give Corrie an overstated smile, before taking on the pathetic, defeated look of before.

Corrie cocked his head to the side, shoving his datapad away. "Hey, what's up? We agreed not to get upset over the Tournament…" He rubbed Lolee's arm quickly, concern on his face.

Lolee shrugged. "I know we did, man, but…" He hesitated, "What if we don't both get it?"

Corrie felt an uncomfortable writhing in his stomach as Lolee's worries found his own. Outwardly, Corrie couldn't care less what happened, and everyone said it, he was pretty much guaranteed a spot, because of his strength in the force, but…what if he didn't?

What if he ended up in the Agricorps? What if Lolee or Cra did? What if they got split up completely?

He swallowed, pushing the stream of concerns back where he could ignore them until later on. Lolee needed him at the moment. "Hey, Lolee, you're awesome, you're the best Padawan to get. You're good at everything, you can remember facts about history and geography and all of that, you're unstoppable in any physical activity, you can use technology without almost blowing out your eyeballs every time." he added pointedly, gesturing towards himself.

It had the desired effect, eliciting a laugh from his rakata friend.

"You're never going to the Agricorps, you're way too awesome."

Lolee laughed again. "Not the most solid assurance I've ever gotten, but thanks."

Corrie grinned. "Well you weren't expecting anything too articulate, were you?"

Reaching forward, he flicked the rakata's ear.

And they were off again.

Later that night, Corrie stared from his bunk to the wall opposite.

He couldn't get to sleep. He couldn't make all the arguing voices in his head disappear!

_You're going to get picked because you're epic, you know that…But you're too much of a worry to get picked! No-one would take on such a troublemaker!...Troublemaking is what makes me different! I never want to be a square, I'll be just like everyone else!...That wouldn't be too bad if it gets you apprenticed!...I'm not compromising myself for selection!_-

Growling, Corrie punched his pillow, sighed, and swung down from his bed. Sliding on some slippers, he slunk out of the door. Outside, it was pitch black, but Corrie's eyes were terrible anyway. He pushed flat against the wall and waited for a moment, listening for any sign of movement. When none occurred, he let his distracted mind wander as his feet went through the familiar actions of sneaking through the Temple.

Attempting to walk and clear his mind at the same time, he made his way sneakily to the Garden, out into the crisp, night air.

The chill was almost comforting, settling into his body, the cold of the late night cutting through his sleepy irritation like a shower would. Now in the free, outside, he ran to the middle, breathing in deeply through his noise. He scrubbed his hands over his face and through his long, shaggy hair.

It worked.

The voices shut up in shock, as if they'd been slapped into silence by the chill.

Smiling at the blissful silence in his head, Corrie looked around. Where had he ended up? The gardens were one of his favourite places. He loved feeling the life of all of the plants, but with his busy social life, he didn't often find the time to come out here. What he found easy that other people had to work for, was connecting with the force. He could easily access the raw power in him that was the force. So he didn't practice.

Looking back over at the quarters he had shared with Lolee since he was a crecheling, Corrie cocked his head to the side. What he had said to Lolee, he believed it, the rakata was amazing. His physical prowess, excellent brain and easy temperament made him a perfect Padawan…everyone bet on Lolee getting a spot above everyone else. Corrie had a hundred credits on him getting selected. The fact that he had started the bets was beside the point.

He was next on the list.

He didn't quite know why…he wasn't complaining, but it was still rather, how to put it, intriguing.

_Force strength, you know you have it…Yeah, but you don't use, you don't practice it…What about smart? You know you're just as smart as Lolee. Smarter, in some ways…Yeah, in some, but who could tell under the idiot act you put on?_

"Sithspit!" Corrie yelled.

The voices were back.

"Why do I always seem to bump into you at the oddest possible moments, Initiate Soline?"

"Definite sithspit." Corrie stated. He turned to begin to explain himself, but felt a hand smack the back of his head. He was shocked into silence.

Master Kenobi seemed just as shocked, but quickly recovered, moving in front of him and muttering, "Language..."

Corrie gave him a sheepish grin.

"What brings you to the Gardens at this time of night?"

Corrie's smile quickly descended into a pout. "Internal conflict."

Master Kenobi gave a laugh. It was high and posh. It was a good laugh. "Internal conflict, I see. To do with the Tournament?"

Shrugging, Corrie gave a non-committal groan. "Not the actual _Tournament_, more this horrible lead up."

The Master nodded sympathetically, folding his hands into his robes. "Worried about not getting picked?"

Corrie buzzed his lips. "Me, worried? As if."

Sensing the sarcasm, Master Kenobi smiled.

Looking at the softly smiling Master, Corrie decided to admit how far in worry he'd gotten stuck. "I keep second-guessing myself! It's a very new sensation for me, it's really quite weird. I don't like it!"

Master Kenobi laughed again. "Well, Initiate Soline, that's something I never thought anyone would hear from you."

"It's not something I ever thought I'd do!" Corrie scoffed.

"Coronarcher, you are just fine the way you are. A little loud and annoying, but then, no-one's perfect."

Reassured, Corrie's grin sprang back onto his face and he perked up considerably. "So, does that mean you'll tell me who all of the Masters have their eyes on?"

Master Kenobi rolled his eyes. "No, Initiate Soline, I think you've spent long enough out here in the cold. Off you go, back to bed, and if you fall asleep in my class, I won't be happy."

Giving the Master a cheeky grin, Corrie made an elaborate bow, turned tail and began sauntering down the path as the Master kept walking the other way.

A second later, however, a thought occurred to him. He spun and walked backwards. "Hey, Master Kenobi!"

The Master turned around.

"Why are you out this late?"

The only response he got was a small smile, before the Master turned and kept walking.

Grinning, Corrie felt confidence rise through his body.

He _so_ had an apprenticeship.

Could he bet on himself?


	6. Chapter 6

Lolee shut his eyes and breathed in deeply. There was a blindfold covering his eyes. The Tournament was tomorrow morning. No! He couldn't think about the Tournament, he had to keep his mind on the task at hand, and that was keeping his balance. And not getting burnt with a practice sabre. That would also be helpful.

Ollisp opposite him was having trouble with his balance. Lolee had fought Ollisp several times over their many classes together, and had his mind been on the task, he would have beaten him easily, but of course, his mind was far away, on the up coming Tournament.

To be fair, Ollisp's mind was equally distracted, but the cunning Correllian was less concerned with his sabre skills than him. Ollisp was inseparable from his twin Crake, but Crake was a hell of a lot more competitive. Crake was hilarious, but angry. Ollisp was cunning and intelligent, but not particularly energetic. The pair seemed to share the generic traits of the Correllian species between them.

Lolee! Stop getting distracted! He scolded himself, throwing his mind into the Force, allowing it to form the picture in front of him. He felt Ollisp tensing and untensing his feet to keep his balance, felt the subtle shifts in stance as he caught himself again and again. He moved his lightsabre a bit every time.

Lolee could see how the battle would go in his mind's eye.

Ollisp would tense his back foot and shift his stance slightly to accommodate his lack of balance. His light sabre would shift upwards and the hilt would swing left, leaving his torso open for just a

moment before he covered it up again. While his foot was tensing, Lolee would take one breath and centre himself in the force, preparing himself for that one moment, where he would lunge forward and defeat Ollisp with one clean blow.

Ollisp tensed.

Lolee took one breath.

Ollisp yelped as he fell to the ground, and Lolee smoothly centred his own balance, bringing his sabre to his front and powering it down. He looked up at Master Windu, but quickly looked down again. Master Windu's face was stony and blank. He was looking at Lolee with an unreadable mask.

Was he trying not to get his hopes up for the Tournament? Didn't want to hurt his feelings too much when he got sent to the Agricorps…

A tense spot developed in Lolee's chest, and he tried not to show it as his balance platform slowly lowered to the ground.

Cra gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up from the sidelines, and Corrie was gaping at him and bowing, but both failed to ease the new found tension. Still, Lolee smiled and tried to appear happy with his win. The truth was, he _had _beenhappy with his win, but that was the issue. Obviously it hadn't been good enough. And that didn't bode well for his future.

Lolee looked around his little group. They all showed signs of nerves. Except for Corrie, of course. Corrie was confidence in clothes, as per usual. Then, with the companionship he had with Obi-Wan, who wouldn't be? Lolee was worried. He was very worried. His sabre skills seemed to have depleted rapidly, beginning their decline as soon as the Tournament had been announced. Obviously, they would pick the worst possible time to crash on him. Corrie had assured him that his skills had not decreased as much as he thought, as had Cra, but a certain lack of response from Windu and the other Masters had depleted his confidence significantly. He didn't understand how Corrie could be so unaffected by the stress of it all. And it was tomorrow morning!

The class re-convened, and Master Windu gave them each a dose of his stony face. "Master Yoda and I have spoken, and I have some good news for you. I can now reveal the nature of tomorrow's Tournament."

Lolee, Corrie and Cra exchanged excited glances. They knew it was a sabre tournament, but little else was known other than rumour.

"It will be a melee Tournament."

Crawen cringed, and Corrie perked up noticeably. Lolee just grinned. Melee. He could do melee.

Cra would have cringed no matter what Windu had said.

"Should a killing blow be dealt, your sabre will be de-activated. You may choose to remain on the field or to leave through the gate, but you are not to interfere with the remaining fights."

Lolee drank up the words, the rules, and though his attention was taken up by that, the natural competitive lead up to the competition had him gauging the others reactions.

Of course Corrie was happy. His superior abilities with the force gave him an unbelievable advantage in such competitions. Cra's weak point was the sabre, so naturally, anything involving the Jedi weapon had him cringing. As for the others, well, they were harder to read. Arak had her head cocked to the side, but her natural nervousness had disappeared. She appeared to be surveying the others just like he was, but she didn't seem overly concerned by this new news. Then again, she didn't have much reason to be worried by it. She was skilled in every facet of sabre training. The trio: Jonah, Reeka and Rags, all seemed rather nervous, the latter practically bouncing with anticipation, while the Correllian twins' faces were painted with determination. All in all, the reactions were what you'd expect.

All except for Macu. The twi'lek looked venomous, glaring daggers at Coronarcher. He was fuming. All of his muscles were tensed, and he seemed extremely disappointed. It was fair enough that he wouldn't be happy, as Macu was very good at one on one, but his fighting style was much less suited to melee. And his main rival's was perfectly suited to it.

Macu stared violently at Corrie, but then quickly breathed in, closing his eyes. Lolee could feel the Force settle around him. Lolee was mesmerised. After a moment, Macu's eyes opened again, filled with cold fire and absolute determination.

He had released his rage into the force, and all that remained was this immense amountof willpower, but to do what, Lolee had no clue.


	7. Chapter 7

Crawen breathed in deeply as he stood in the Arena, trying to get his mind to settle. The entire Padawan group were splayed in a circle around the Arena in which their fate as Jedi would be decided. Cra's sabre felt heavy on his waist, and his hands itched to grab at it. The entire build up, the past two weeks filled with stress and worry and insults and tension, this was its peak and purpose. After today, however it went down, it would be over.

Cra looked around. The entire group were sending each other shifty glances, nervously waiting the bleep that would allow them to begin their melee. He had thought that nothing could be worse than the wait outside the gate before they were allowed inside. Cra had tried to meditate, but his mind had been too busy and his body too nervous for success. He didn't understand how Corrie and Lolee seemed so chilled about this. He wished he wouldn't get nervous. In his mind, logically, he actually wasn't all that nervous, more relieved that the horrible build-up was over. it made no sense to be nervous about this, all it would do was screw him up. Unfortuantely, Cra's body didn't seem to follow the same line of thought as his mind. Without his will, Cra's hands got sweaty, his body shook with adrenaline, and he was already sweating. His eyes darted from person to person as eh tried to distract himself from his nerves.

Corrie was bouncing with excitement, a giant grin on his face. His fingers were twitching as though he were playing his pianorgan and he was rocking back and forward off and onto the balls of his feet.

At least Lolee had the sense to seem a little concerned. He kept throwing grins at Corrie, but they often turned into nervous glances at the Masters on the way back.

On the way past some of the prospective Padawans that he didn't know, Corrie's eyes caught on Arak. The twi'lek was standing up straight, her eyes closed and her face towards the sky. She looked very peaceful, very beautiful.

Cra's eyes widened as he checked his thoughts. No, he was not going to think about Arak and her perfect green skin and- No!

Oh, this melee was going to be fun.

Mace Windu looked down on the Arena from his perch above it. Their little observation platform wound most of the way around the Arena at the top, and it was filled with Masters. Most of them were seated, there to watch the entertainment, but there were a few, including Mace himself, who were there for a more specific reason.

The sixteen Initiates standing in a circle underneath them were all hoping to gain a Master from this melee.

Five Masters watching were hoping to gain an apprentice.

The numbers didn't add up, and the young ones down below knew it well. They had all had nerves building up in them for two solid weeks by then, their hopes for the future pinned on this competition.

Mace had a couple in mind. Lolee, Crake the Correllian and Macu were at the top of his list for the moment.

Qui-Gon Jinn, who had just turned up from some off-planet mission for some resting time walked over and joined him in watching the Initiates.

They stood in silence for a time, until, "I'm doing quite well, if you wanted to know."

Mace smiled, but kept his gaze fixed on the Arena below. "That's good, my friend."

Qui-Gon's mouth also twitched upwards into a smile. "On the lookout, I see."

Nodding, Mace anticipated Qui-Gon's thoughts and pointed out the favourites. "There are several brilliant Jedi in this group. The favourite to win this particular competition is Coronarcher Soline, but of course, he is practically spoken for already."

Qui-Gon's small smile broadened as he thought of his old Apprentice. "Ah, yes, my old Padawan. I have been informed of their relationship. I hear it is a rather amusing one."

Mace just shook his head.

"And you, my friend? Who do you have your eye on?"

Windu cocked his head to the side. "Use that famous insight of yours, Jinn. Guess."

Enjoying the challenge, Qui-Gon took a moment to observe the Initiates down below. "I imagine that rakata and the pair of twi'leks have caught your attention."

As always, mace was amazed by Qui-Gon's accuracy, but he got caught up on the _pair_ of twi'leks.

Was he also interested in Arak? She was very shy and quiet, and although the quiet bit was appealing, her shyness and nerves could take too long to get over. Her sabre skills, however, were intriguing. Mace didn't quite know, but he suspected that she was in fact the best with a sabre out of this entire group. She had the potential to be. In class, she was the quickest to completely learn a new form or kata, but she almost always seemed to hold back during class. Mace hadn't yet seen her all out.

Hmm, maybe Qui-Gon was right and he was in fact interested in Arak.

Mace snuck a look sideways and saw an expression on Qui-Gon's face that he had long since learnt to recognise as his 'I told you so, but I'm not going to say it' look.

Mace frowned and looked back down at the Initiates.

Macu tried to centre himself, to feel as one with his sabre like he'd been taught, but he couldn't help but to feel the nerves build up in his chest as he looked around at his competition. He had to do this right, he had to win, and he had to get a Master. He needed to be a success, Shaking his head, Macu tried to banish his chronic fear of embarrassment. The ultimate humiliation would of course be being sent to the Agricorps as a wash out Jedi. He couldn't allow that.

So, of course, when the fear of such a fate threatened to grab him by the throat, he forced it away, pushing it out with all emotion, leaving himself only a calm determination.

He would not fail.


	8. The Melee

Corrie looked around with excitement. His excitement was less to do with actual emotions, and more to do with the environment he was in. His connection to the living force made him unwittingly drink up the atmosphere and emotion around him, and right now there was a lot of it, resulting in him getting a mix of emotions that had his blood pumping and his brain raging and adrenaline coursing through his body even before he added his own emotions, of which he had more than enough.

He was feeling the force crashing around his opponents, feeling their emotions, guessing from that what they would do. This was why he did well in these competitions. The force told him exactly where everyone was, when they would attack him. He could have fun with these melee competitions.

Bleep!

Descended as fully as he was into the Force's control, he saw it quite clearly as the force buzzed around Arak, surging upwards as she snapped into action. She wrenched her sabre out and with one move, had delivered a killing blow to Reeka beside her before anyone else had even got their sabre out.

His grin threatening to split his face, Corrie cheered loudly. The force surged as everyone was shocked into action. Corrie ducked into a forward roll as the Correllian twins on either side of him both swiped at his neck. Snapping up straight in front of the pair, he twisted and dealt a glancing blow to Ollisp's hamstring. It was enough to force him to one knee, when Crake slipped over him and an Initiate Corrie didn't know dealt with them both.

On cue, Corrie spun under a blur of blades and quickly brought his sabre up over the random's neck, effectively killing them.

Arak glanced around herself quickly, making a split-second decision to slice sideways at Lolee as he came up on her side. He ducked away and threw a blow back to her as he continued on, which she dodged just as easily. Flowing on from her last move, Arak spun and with two swings of her sabre, disposed of two more people, stopping herself a centimetre from Cra's neck. His sabre was half a second too slow to catch hers, and his eyes were wide as he stared into hers.

The frozen moment lasted for only a second, before Arak's sabre flicked up and down again, between Cra's arm and chest to kill Rags, who was half a swing away from killing Cra.

A second later, they were back to back and effectively defending themselves from all sides.

Jonah glanced around. It had taken only the first few minutes of the melee to get rid of half the competition. Remaining, were Cra and Arak, fighting back to back, which, had Jonah had more time to think about it, would have decided it was very cute. As well as them, there was Corrie, who was seemed to be made of elastic, the amount of bending and acrobatics he was doing, Lolee, who was an unstoppable force as he ran circles around the Arena, Macu, a person that Jonah hadn't met and of course, Jonah herself.

Her sabre swung up from defending Lolee's swiping blow as he flew past and found it caught on Macu's. A familiar strength pushed down on her arm. She pushed back up as defiantly as ever, and they engaged.

Lolee ran around his circle for the twentieth time, slicing at each person he passed. He had gotten a few kill shots in, but mainly, he was doling out blows designed to weaken whoever was remaining. He was waiting for it to stop being a free for all before he would engage in a proper fight. Arak and Cra banding together had been unfortunate, as they worked very well together, but the other remaining ones had not yet done such a thing. Cra, Arak, Corrie and a mon calamari called Sella were all exchanging blows, with Corrie being as unpredictable as always, sporadically changing from random dodging to quick blows, while the Cra and Arak were spinning in a far too coordinated fashion.

Macu and Joanh seemed to have engaged in their own little fight.

Maybe now would be a good time to join in the fun.

Splitting off his circle halfway through, Lolee ran at Corrie, who yelped and skidded between his legs. Lolee was immediately distracted by a rain of blows from Sella and Cra & Arak.

That of course, freed Corrie to roll away from them and interfere in Macu and Jonah's fight.

Slicing Macu's unsuspecting throat, Corrie grinned triumphantly. Immediately, Jonah began to push him backwards. His grin disappeared in favour of a grimace.

Bringing his sabre up, Corrie met Jonah's in a rain of sparks and dug in his heels, glancing over his shoulder at the four way battle behind them.

Lolee and Sella had succeeded in disposing of Cra, which of course, meant, Sella was immediately killed by Arak. The remaining pair were sparring with a blurred fury of colour and light.

Deciding he would prefer not to get pushed into that, Corrie ran sideways, away from the remaining Initiates.

Jonah had no choice but to follow him, which she did gladly.

Qui-Gon stared down at the intense battle going on below the Masters on the observation platform. The two pairs of sparring battles had lasted for a good five minutes before they melded together into an intense four way scrap. Each of the competitors were very skilled, each with their own style and skills.

As he watched, Corrie flipped over Lolee and Arak's crackling blades to land with a powerful blow on Jonah, whose sabre immediately de-activated.

Landing and rolling back to his feet, the last human left made a comical noise and ducked as a pair of blades came crashing down towards him. He skidded forward between them, standing and spinning. Both blades had followed him up and now came at his stomach and head respectively with speed.

In a move that could only be force assisted, Coronarcher bent back from the knees, until both blades had passed over him. He fell back into a backward roll and sprang to his feet.

Obviously, he preferred his chances of evading blows than the chances of beating the two best sabre students in the temple at once. So he ran.

Bending and ducking and jumping and flipping, seemingly with the moment, the connection between Corrie and the Force was obvious, despite the stupid noises he made every time there was a close call.

Corrie was eventually trapped. He had nowhere to run but to a wall, and Lolee and Arak both ran at him full force, both annoyed and impatient with his constant dodging. Corrie, however, seemed completely calm. At the last possible moment, a split second before he was impaled with a pair of blades, he ran up the wall and flipped off it. His timing was absolutely perfect. As Corrie reached the peak of his flip, Lolee and Arak attempted to stop, but instead skidded and fell into a tangle of limbs and lightsabres, leaving Corrie to achieve a perfect landing and look behind him as if to check it had actually worked. He seemed shocked that it had actually gone as planned.

His shock lasted only a moment as he grinned massively and walked over, helping Lolee and Arak to their feet.

The other Initiates slowly got to their feet, milling around and chatting amiably. They all looked visibly relieved.

Everyone watched on as Yoda waddled out to the middle of the Arena. Corrie had his arms wrapped around Arak and Lolee's shoulders as he beamed at the little green Jedi.

"Very, very good, this competition was. Congratulations, Coronarcher."

Corrie grinned even more.

"Very relieved you are, I imagine, that over, this is."

His comment was met by reluctant laughs.

"However, over, it is not. More, you have yet to do."


	9. Chapter 9

Arak felt like crying. More? She didn't think she could deal with any more of anything, any more competition, any more tension, certainly not anymore Padawan acceptance challenges. What was the nature of this 'more'? Fixing her eyes on Yoda, Arak noted that everyone else in the Arena was doing the exact same thing.

Yoda was sharing his wise gaze with all of them equally, seemingly unperturbed by the intense stares he was receiving. He leant on his gimer stick very comfortably, the picture of Jedi calm. It wasn't hard to tell that most of the Initiates there wanted nothing more than to grab that stick and hit him over the head with it.

"Performed very well today, you have. However, the melee tournament, only one aspect of Jedi skill, displays."

Arak could see where this was going.

"Many more skills, a Jedi needs, than fighting. If only fighting, we did, then the galaxy in chaos, would be." Giving a little chuckle, he turned around and began to walk slowly out of the arena.

The Initiates knew they had to follow without the Jedi Master saying a word.

The silence that dominated the area as the small, shocked group walked was oppressive, and Arak felt the tension in the area pressing in on her. She supposed that that was the very same reason Coronarcher was being quiet. Few people realised it, but he found his energy from the force, and the people around him. Whatever their emotions were, his were too. Arak could just feel the nerves and dismay coming from all around; it was impossible not to. You didn't need a grand connection to the living force, or extremely high compassion to pick up on the feeling in the corridor.

Walking at a stoic pace was hard for all of them, impatience willing them to run, but the fact that they had no idea where they were going, combined with the little green Jedi leading them, effectively stopped them all from abiding with impatience's whims.

The entire group were shocked when they arrived at a gigantic door.

Arak looked around, thinking that she may have been mistaken about where they were in the Temple, but no. The corridors around her were the ones on the way to the Council Room, and the walls and doors were all right, but for this new one. The door that seemingly had appeared from nowhere to block their path in the middle of the hallway.

"Well, that wasn't there before…" Coronarcher commented quickly.

Arak had to agree. A wave of nerves pulsated through her being. She had no clue what was behind this door, but she suspected that it would prove to be unbelievably important.

Chuckling once more, Yoda waved his little hands, and Arak felt a tingle up her spine, as though she could feel him drawing on the Force. She saw the other Initiates feel the same, and Coronarcher shudder.

A second later, the gigantic, mystery doors whispered quietly as they slid open.

Jonah felt her jaw dropping as she took in the new room. Corrie had been right: it had _definitely_ not been there before.

The floor that she walked on as Yoda led them inside was the bright white of the rest of the Temple, clean and almost glowing. The room itself was a circular area, and the walls held a series of mosaics, depicting four Jedi masters meditating in an unbroken circle, larger than life and rather intimidating. Giant columns of white arched up from the ground, meeting in a peak at the top, twisted together in a beautiful pattern. However, each column had rings of electronic writing around them in black, from the floor to the edge of Jonah's sight.

Focussing on the one closest to her, Jonah saw a list of names, with Coronarcher at the top. Her eyes widened. Glancing around at the others, she saw neat tables on each, all with titles; Singles, Living Force, Technology, Obstacle Course, Reflex Thinking and the one she had seen first: Melee. They were leaderboards, disguised as beautiful artwork. Spinning around quickly, Jonah sought out every column in the room. There was the melee column, the other five she had seen initially, and only one more, which was a timetable of sorts. Finding her name easily, it said to be at the dining hall, at eleven o'clock the next day. It didn't say why.

Breathing in deeply, Jonah turned to Yoda, who was smiling at them all pleasantly while they stared around in shock and awe. Somehow, while they were all in a daze of shock, Master Windu had turned up, and also smiled at them all indulgently.

"You have many more challenges to go through. As you can see, there are leaderboards, so you can keep track of how you are going in each competition. There is timetable up there, which will tell you exactly where you have to be and when. You will always meet a Knight or Master there who will take you where you need to go." he informed them all with his hands folded behind his back.

Jonah felt slightly less worried once she had the solid facts in her head. She knew where she had to be, and when, and she knew what was happening…well, sort of. Jonah wasn't overly worried about any of the tasks in particular. She didn't have anything in particular that she couldn't do as well as the others, so why would she be worried about that? What she was worried about, though, was the fact that she couldn't do any of the tasks any _better_ than the others, either. She wouldn't get top in anything. She probably wouldn't even get second or third. Whereas most people were very good at say, technology, but not so good with the sabre, and so, would get high scores for tech., and low for sabre, she was equally as good at both, and so, would get ok scores for both.

She possessed no attention grabbing skills, unfortunately for her. Maybe there was something she could do, something to make her better at something, more practice, something, _anything_!

Yoda, as always, effectively eased her, and probably everyone else's thoughts with his amazing insight and wisdom. "Worry, you should not. Practice, you cannot. Very capable, all of you are. If in yourself, you believe, fail, you cannot."

Her heart lightened, Jonah turned to Master Windu, ready for whatever he might say next, for it was obvious he wasn't done.

"This will last for many days. Tomorrow, you will all compete in the first round of a Singles Sabre Tournament. In the four days that follow, you will each complete four other challenges and other rounds of the Singles Tournament." he paused, allowing everyone to take in the information. "Now, you may all go and rest. You have dealt with much today, and you have much yet to do."

It was as obvious a dismissal as could be given.

Her stomach a ball of nerves, but determination and confidence in her stride, Jonah left the Room.


	10. Chapter 8

Macu's heart pounded through his chest with every step, his eyes flashing as he stalked aimlessly around the Temple. His clenched fists continually balled and unballed as his self control slowly depleted. He was just so angry!

Angry at himself, angry at Jonah, angry at Yoda, at the Masters and the other Initiates, but mostly, he was angry at Coronarcher Soline!

He had allowed himself to be beaten at sabre by the human that could never best him one on one. His fight with Jonah had been hard! They were evenly matched, and the fight was exhausting, but he had been coming out on top! That insufferable boy had _no_ business attacking him from behind whilst he was engaged with another opponent! It wasn't fair! Honour played no part in melee tournaments. Or at least it didn't for Coronarcher. And it should.

The truth was, that he had known he wouldn't win a melee long before the competition started. He was not a skilled multi-opponent fighter. His skills would be cast into shadow, invisible to any that watched the melee. He could not win.

And Coronarcher could. Easily.

Whereas Macu's abilities limited his achievements in fights such as these, Coronarcher's abilities made his achievements endless. His connection to the force gave him the extra edge that made him unbeatable.

Coronarcher's chances of losing were as slim as Macu's were of winning, but that had at least given Macu the fire he needed, feeding his determination, until finally, he engaged with Jonah. His aggravation had been building throughout the entire melee as he watched Coronarcher progress from the corner of his eye. It seemed that every time he looked up, the human was there, ducking something that should have been impossible to evade and even having the gall to grin at his frustrated opponents as he ran carelessly around the arena.

The fight with Jonah had engaged his attention completely for a time, a blessed relief from his anger, until who should distract him again with a sneaky, underhanded blow, but Coronacher Soline.

His anger with himself for not seeing the boy approach had held his anger at the human in check for a moment, until Coronarcher _grinned._

That last triumphant grin, open gloating in the midst of the fight of their lives was just too much for Macu. He had truly cracked.

Coronarcher was an impossible act to follow! Everything seemed to work out perfectly for him, all the time! Why would anyone pick Macu over Coronarcher Sithspit Soline? It wasn't fair that he had so much ability, that he had so much luck! How did it happen that no-one seemed to see in him the darkness, the gloating superiority that Macu was constantly getting the brunt of? No, everyone else loved 'Corrie' too much to see that…

If anyone were to have a chance in this competition, Coronarcher would needs not be participating.

Anger at himself had cast Macu into the throes of darkness, but there he simmered, carefully feeding his anger towards Coronarcher Soline with vile thoughts, nurturing it into a roaring open flame, barely even noticing the rest of the day go by.

And now it was at his peak. Darkness pressed in on Macu on all sides, but he had enough rational thinking left to know that the dark side was perilously close and that he had to steer clear. He wrestled with his anger and sudden lack of self-discipline, but his thoughts ran in circles, pointless circles that only served to make him more angry. He could feel nothing but that anger, hot and raging in his chest.

And that was when, as if to mock his inability to find a shred of happiness in the inescapable darkness, that laughter echoed around the corner of the corridor, bouncing off the walls and hitting his ears with such a force that he flinched.

A second later, Jonah and Coronarcher rounded the corner. They were openly happy, joking and chatting all too amiably about the upcoming challenges.

The open flame roaring in Macu's chest reached an unhealthy high and he growled under his breath, waiting for them to come.

Rolling her eyes at Corrie's idiotic but nevertheless amusing antics, Jonah laughed as she turned the corner with him. Most of the Initiates had gathered at the Dining Hall after the big reveal and had a giant discussion about…everything, really, the build up, the melee and the resulting announcement. Everyone had been there but for Crawen and Arak, who had been there at the start and split off soon after to speak privately, and Macu, who had disappeared mysteriously as soon as they were dismissed.

Jonah was reasonably happy with her efforts at the Tournament. Fourth place wasn't too bad. She had never hoped to beat Lolee and although Arak's skill was unexpected, it was blatantly obvious that no-one except perhaps the rakata had any hope of besting her. As for fighting Corrie, she had been unsure about how exactly he would go. In a normal one-on-one fight, he would best her only one time out of five, and so Jonah had been somewhat dubious about his abilities in a multi-opponent fight. As it turned out, she had underestimated his abilities with the force. It had pushed him to an almost invincible level, but no-one begrudged him his gifts. Jonah, in fact, thanked him for them. His unpredictability and connection to the force had come in incredibly handy when her fight with Macu had been turning downhill.

She hadn't been overly upset by Macu beating her. They were equals with the sabre, and their fight had been good. He had merely bested her that time, and now that she knew she would have the chance to prove herself again, she was even less concerned.

It seemed that the extra challenges had eased everyone's hearts slightly, granting them all opportunities to display their skills and allowing them all the freedom to feel glad and rest easy for the first time in weeks.

The release of such light humour and companionship had been too much for Jonah to abandon in favour of an early night, and so had agreed to accompany Corrie as he went back to find Lolee. He never lasted long without seeing his rakata friend.

As they turned the corner of the corridor, however, they were greeted by someone much less friendly than the sporty Lolee.

Macu stood in the corridor, an unstable fire in his eyes as he glared at them.

Jonah was instantly on her guard. His glare was different from usual, more intense and more scattered. He looked volatile and positively dangerous.

Instantly regretting not finding him earlier, Jonah took a step closer to him, her laughter dying on her lips.

Corrie just grinned. "Looks like we found Cu-Cu. He looks like he could have used a little of that fun we were having. Wait, he can't, can he? Have fun that is."

Jonah's shock raised her eyebrows to her hairline and she felt like turning around and slapping Coronarcher. She had never heard him being more insensitive. Surely he felt the darkness emanating from Macu as he stood in the hall. That darkness was increasing with every second the pair saw each other.

"Corrie!" she cried out in indignation.

Before her fellow human could respond, Macu's attention turned to her. His glare was cold and harsh. Jonah's breath caught in her throat as she realised just how mad Macu was. This would come to blows. There was no doubt about it. She needed to get help.

"Oh, the arena allies having a falling out are they?" Macu hissed, his voice husky and coated in hate.

What a perfect opening to leave.

"Go on, tell him you're sorry, give him a smooch…you know you want to," Macu's stormy eyes flicked to Corrie. "Who doesn't, right, '_Corrie'_?"

"Macu, leave Jonah out of this!" Corrie yelled. It really didn't take much to get his temper up.

Jonah knew she couldn't' leave without even attempting to mediate this. "I'm sure there's a better way to solve your issue than this yelling." she began, before, to her surprise, _Corrie_ rounded on her. "Stay out of this, Jonah." he ordered.

Huffing in indignation, Jonah felt her eyebrows fly towards the ceiling yet again. Any attempts at remaining impassive and calm flew out the window. "I will not stay out of this, Seline! You two will beat each other to a pulp without someone sensible here to keep you apart, but if you really want to smash your heads together and break bones and all of that ever so manly bantha poo-doo right before the biggest challenges of our lives, then I'll just go and let you have your fun! Idiotic, immature boys! I hope Yoda finds you and beats you both unconscious with his stick!"

Thinking that her outburst adequately stunned them both, she spun on her heel and stormed off to make sure that Yoda did exactly that.


	11. Chapter 11

Corrie was in a state of shock at the anger pounding through his chest. He didn't understand it, this white hot rage pulsating through his being. His fists seemed to clench of his own accord as Jonah stalked out of the corridor, leaving Corrie alone with Macu. It almost hurt Corrie to look at him, sensing the darkness that had almost completely taken the twi'lek.

He had felt it as a cloud in the force, something dangerous that he had felt for the first time when he had left the jovial atmosphere of the dining hall. It had built up, the cloud getting darker and darker and bigger and stronger the further they went, but Corrie had stupidly ignored it in favour of chatting with Jonah.

As soon as they rounded the corner, Corrie knew the source of the darkness, and the pull became too strong. He had instantly regretted not paying attention to the warnings the Force had been giving him, for as soon as he had seen Macu, seen the darkness roiling around him, he had known that he wouldn't be able to resist it. As he had predicted, he had immediately felt tendrils of darkness luring him in. Even those little bits of darkness were unbelievably strong. Corrie began to fight it, wondering how on Coruscant Macu was resisting it. Or maybe he wasn't…

Macu's glare seemed to want to melt him where he stood, and his intention was clear as he stepped forward ever so slowly.

Corrie matched his pace with one of his own, and all too soon, they were ominously circling in the corridor. He had never felt like this before, just wanting to fight, to punch and kick and bite, just to rid himself of this darkness within. He was scared, so scared, terror combining with the dark to send adrenaline pumping through his veins. "Come on, Rocktor. I know you're spoiling for a fight too!" he spat. He vented more of the darkness with an impressive string of curses.

A small smile of terrifying properties lit Macu's face and he attacked.

Corrie was almost shocked when Macu's first blow snapped his head sideways, but then the energy of the fight buzzed through him, and a grin lit up his face. Lowering his head, Corrie ran full force at the twi'lek and headbutted him, savouring the moment of stunned shock on Macu's face.

Then the fight was on.

Macu was bigger and stronger than Coronarcher, with much more power than him, and his rage was much stronger. The only things Corrie had going for him were speed, reflexes and pure unpredictability, all of which he used to their full potential as the pair whirled up and down the corridor, delighting in every blow that met skin.

They were an indistinguishable mass of grey and white, dark, violent energy pulsating, coursing through them. Neither thought, neither saw, or heard, they just acted, responding only to the pounding of their blood in their heads and the pain each successful blow caused.

The pair flew apart, skidding to opposite ends of the corridor.

Corrie slid painfully across the ground in a state of shock and confusion. It was obvious the Force was propelling them, but how…An all too familiar gimer stick filled his vision as he skidded to a halt beside it. Macu was all of four feet away, but the disappointment ringing strong and clear through the Force brought him back to his senses with a snap.

Despite the fact that he had stopped moving, and was lying on his back in the corridor, Corrie couldn't find it in himself to move. What had he just done? Surely he hadn't just had a brawl in the middle of the Temple. No, he couldn't get up and face Master Yoda. He was too scared and embarrassed. It seemed Macu had come to much the same conclusion, because it was a fair while before either of them moved, and when they did, it was hardly a choice.

"Initiates, to me, you will come." Yoda's tone was one of terrifying calm.

Slowly, both boys shuffled onto their knees in front of Yoda, heads bowed in shame.

The little green Master frowned at them, letting them squirm in the silence for a moment.

Corrie glared at the ground, half out of respect, half to hide the tears forming in his eyes. He could sense the comment that would come next, and fear was coursing through him. They had probably just gotten themselves disqualified from the competition. They were both going to the Agricorps. That, however, was second in his mind, pushed back by the much more immediate issue of Master Yoda's next few sentences.

"Ashamed of both of you, I am. Disappointed in both you, I am."

Corrie drilled his eyes into the carpet, willing himself not to cry. He could deal with any manner of emotional issue. He could handle being on the receiving end of anger, exasperation, irritation, horror, even being laughed at was no biggie for him, but the one thing he simply couldn't deal with was disappointment, and that was what he was being given an unhealthy dose of.

"Resolve your differences, you must. Why do you fight?"

Corrie looked up in shock. He hadn't expected that question, especially not here in the corridor, where anyone could come around the corner at any second. "Master Yoda, could we not do this somewhere more-"

Yoda interrupted him, as if to show how mad he was with the slip of decorum. "Do this somewhere more private, we cannot, Initiate Soline. Why do you not like Macu?"

Grimacing at having made himself the centre of attention and a sudden awareness of the throbbing pain in several places over his body, Corrie gave a snort. That was an easy question, at least. "Because he insults me, teases me and takes my stuff, and then he realises it doesn't really bother me, so he does it to my friends instead, just to get to me! What's to like?" he spat.

Yoda said nothing.

"What've you been doing, then?" Macu demanded. "You're hardly blameless!"

Corrie glared hard at the floor, refusing to look at the twi'lek.

"You always start the teasing and insulting! And the fights, you hit me in the face!"

Feeling the anger build up in his chest, Corrie could resist no longer and turned a horrific glare on Macu. It was equally met. "Well you were hardly giving my back a massage, were you, Rocktor? I don't know how you didn't break it!"

"It's because you have no back bone _to_ break!" Macu roared.

Corrie gave a loud, slightly mad laugh, ignoring the tears of confrontation that were streaming down his cheeks. "Fantastic comeback, you witless dungbuzzer, I never would've thought of that in a million years!"

Macu choked out a sob as he finally gave in. "Just because you're so good at everything! Just because you're so bloody perfect and everyone loves you so bloody much, it doesn't mean I have to!"

"Oh, like you notice anything that I do, you and your bantha sized independence! Not everyone can get by so easily without praise and attention! Some of us need compliments to keep us going! Not all of us can be so unaffected by everything!"

Both boys were then on their feet, dangerously close, with tears flowing freely down their faces, mixing freely with their blood and sweat as they screamed their hearts out.

"Well obviously something's affecting me now! I'm not as emotionless as you think! I just can't find the courage in me to make a fool of myself like you do!"

"You don't need to! You don't need the attention like I do!"

Macu's voice was thick with tears. "I just wish I could be like you! Everyone loves you and you don't even need to try! You don't even notice that everyone loves you! It's not fair! You can't do a thing wrong!"

Corrie lost control, his hands flying up to tear at his hair. "Exactly! I can't do anything wrong! Can you imagine what would happen if I stopped trying, if I just let go? What would people do if I stopped being like I am? I have to meet so many expectations, every day, and it's hard! It's so hard! I can't fall short because I need the attention that comes from being so out there! I can't survive without constant reassurance, unlike you! I wish I could be like you! You don't need anyone, you're just so strong!"

The yelling then became incomprehensible, both boys screaming over the top of each other, getting louder and louder, until finally-

"I'M JEALOUS!"

The pair immediately fell silent. In that single moment, they realised that there had never been any legitimate reason for their fighting, no reason but their jealousy.

In almost synchronised action, to avoid the awkwardness of the moment, they began searching the small crowd that had gathered throughout their shouting match. Neither saw any sign of a little, green Jedi.

"I'm sorry, Macu." Corrie murmured as they searched.

Still scanning the crowd, Macu replied, "Me too, Coronarcher."

"Call me Corrie, please. He left, didn't he?"

"Cuey. He appears to have, yes."

Corrie laughed first, but once they started, they couldn't stop. The absurdity of the situation was simply too much. Clutching at his ribs, Corrie grabbed onto Macu for support. "Jeez, Cuey, you didn't half hit me hard!"

Still laughing uncontrollably; a rather new experience for the twi'lek, Macu took a deep, shuddering breath. "Sorry! Do you need to go to the Healers?" He took another breath. "I think I do!"

For some reason, that sent them both back into hysterics.

Corrie nodded, and they took off towards the Healers through the crowd of shocked onlookers.


	12. Chapter 10

Crawen rolled his eyes at Corrie beside him. The boy was groaning as he poked at his ribs. Cra knew for a fact that the human's brief stint in a bacta tank the night before would have cured all of the pain, but Corrie still delighted in re-enacting the effects of the hiding Macu had given him. Cra was used to that, but he was still unsure of Macu, who had tentatively become more of a member of the group. He was still solitary, but he sat close enough to Corrie, Cra and Lolee to put in the occasional wry comment that had them all in stitches. Then again, 'the group' was kind of getting confused.

Corrie, Cra and Lolee. Arak. Jonah, Rags and Reeka. The Correllians. Chee, Andarin and Dewa. Grovin, Sella and Wooka. Macu. That's how it was. The sixteen of them had been in obvious, pre-determined groups. Not so, anymore…Since the announcement of the Tournament, the groups had kind of…warped. The stress of competition had pulled them apart in a slightly odd way, forcing them to bond more with the others. As the competition wore on, Cra began to feel that his friends were holding back their thoughts and feelings more, and he himself was now more reluctant to bond with the others. He had no explanation for it, it was just happening.

Now the groups were more like…Chee, Andarin, Dewa, Grovin, Sella, Wooka. Corrie, Cra, Lolee, Arak, Jonah, Macu. The Correllians, Rags and Reeka.

Crawen shook his head and sighed. He'd never been one to keep up with the ins and outs of the social agenda. At the moment, he was having enough trouble trying to figure out what was up with Arak. She had been getting more and more distant throughout the course of the competition, if that were possible, with no explanation as to why. She'd taken him off early after the party last night to talk with him about Macu and Corrie. She said that she felt something building up in Macu…

"_Something big, and very, very bad." Arak's eyes were large and Cra could sense her distress. "It's all directed towards Corrie, and something's going to happen. He'll confront him, and Cra," Her eyes drilled into him, making him completely unable to tear his gaze away. "Corrie won't be able to resist. He takes his power from the Force, which is influenced by whatever emotions are around him. With this much dark in Macu, there's no way Corrie won't get any of it."_

_Crawen had gulped. He didn't doubt Arak's budding telepathic abilities, nor her commendable insight. His own experience with Coronarcher and Macu only confirmed every word Arak was saying._

"_Cra, what can we do?" Arak's wide eyes plunged a knife into Cra's stomach, and he wanted more than anything to take away the hurt that held her in its clutches. Try as he might though, he couldn't think of any solution. _

"_Arak, there's nothing we can do. They must work this out themselves. You know that." Tentatively, he moved closer and pulled her into a hug. _

_The twi'lek immediately relaxed into his grip. "Cra, I'm scared they'll hurt each other…"_

"_It will all work out, I promise." _

Crawen's promise had been fulfilled, fortunately, but Arak was still shaken by the fact that it had taken violence for the boys to find peace. Arak hated the idea that the Initiate group, Jedi as they were, had such negative feelings for each other and it scared her how perilously close to the dark side the pair had been. Crawen agreed with her feelings, but he said nothing on it. For him, it was merely a fact of the competition, and he had learnt to accept it. It was not in his nature to try to change it. Arak tried to prevent it before it occurred. Or at least she wanted to. In truth, she was far too unconfident and shy to take any legitimate course of action.

Even so, she had ever been close to Crawen and she always told him what was on her mind, so what was different now?

His pondering having failed, Cra turned to face the door that had just been opened. Masters Yoda and Windu walked in. "Good morning, Initiates."

A chorus of good mornings echoed back to them, Coronarcher pointedly yawning at the early hour.

Master Windu looked perilously close to rolling his eyes.

"Welcome to the first day of Competitions."

Competitions. How simple the word sounded in that sentence, but it was fraught with danger. Too hazardous to be just your everyday noun. In his head, Crawen automatically promoted it to a proper noun, giving it a capital.

"Today, is the beginning of the Singles Tournament."

Everyone listened with baited breath. They knew all of this already, but there had to be new information coming.

"Everyday from now until the end of the Competition, there will be a different round of Singles, with day five being the Finals between the last two remaining."

Still no new information, but they could sense it coming.

As if he knew that the whole group was holding their breath waiting for facts, Master Windu began to walk away, gesturing for them to follow. Halting in front of a meditating mosaic master, he waited patiently as Master Yoda closed his eyes.

Confused, Cra watched, barely even aware of his own body as he focussed completely on Master Yoda, and the subtle ripples in the Force that were radiating from his small being.

The eyes of the mosaic in front of them snapped open, revealing bright lights that slowly ground their way around in a perfect circle, two tendrils of light that formed what turned out to be the outline of a door, as they discovered when it soundlessly moved back and slid open.

Astonished beyond belief and ready to go along with just about anything-a skill he had perfected by hanging out with Corrie and Lolee all through their mischief making madness-Crawen just tried not to gape as he followed the Masters into the room beyond the door.


	13. Chapter 13

The room was massive; a giant hall with a ceiling so high, you could barely see it in the pitch black that was the Hall. They could see high platforms with seats in a rough circle around the edge of the room, and as they entered, lights lit up on two giant floating floors in the middle of the air.

Macu's mouth tightened as he saw the Jedi lining the seats of the viewing platforms. They were being watched, and that was rather intimidating. Macu, however, was feeling quietly confident. He would do well in one on one matches, depending on who he was matched against, of course.

"This competition will be based on a point system. You will be given a certain amount of points out of five, depending not on the outcome of the match, but how well you perform during the fight. At the end of today, the people with the bottom four scores will be eliminated from this singles competition."

Determination settled in Macu's mind. He wasn't going out today. No, not today.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Crawen Tu Darchi sigh and dump his head in a hand in a strange mixture of exasperated despondency. The friend of Corrie was quiet but funny; the kind of guy Macu could find himself liking if he got closer to the other Initiates, which he had an inkling that he would be doing. Provided, of course, that he made a Padawan…and they did too.

"Please board the platform." Master Windu ordered, and the whole group surged forward onto a platform that then rose and met the viewing seats and areas where the Masters and Knights were sitting comfortably.

Macu quickly looked around, taking in the sheer amount of Jedi in the room. As well as those looking for Padawans, there were dozens of other Knights and other Masters, and even older Padawans that seemed to have come along for the entertainment.

Again, Macu spotted Crawen, Arak and several other Initiates pale and start to bite their lips. The feelings of nerves were foreign to Macu. He'd been angry, and happy, but never had he been scared or nervous.

"There will be two matches going at once. And the first four competitors will be, Grovin and Rags, and Macu and Coronarcher."

Of course.

Smiling at the woop that flew from Corrie's mouth, he turned to his new friend and they gripped hands in a manly hug, slapping each other on the back as they mounted the closest platform.

"Bring it, Cuey!"

Grovin and Rags mounted their platform more slowly, squaring off unfamiliarly, while Macu and Corrie were smiling comfortably. Corrie was grinning in his usual manic fashion as they circled.

Master Windu smiled as he sat down. "Remember, you're being judged on how you fight, not how the fight turns out. You have ten minutes. Go!"

Grovin and Rags engaged very quickly, a flurry of fast, sharp blows, but Corrie and Macu waited a moment, still circling.

Qui-Gon Jinn was staring intently at the two fights, leaning back in his seat. Windu sent him a sideways glance before resting his head on his fist and absently fingering his lips.

Qui-Gon gestured briefly at Rags and Grovin. "They'll be going this round." he stated.

Mace sighed at admitting his old friend was right, but nodded nonetheless. Neither Rags nor Grovin were particularly skilled with a sabre. Corrie and Macu on the other hand, were both quite skilled. They would place well.

Quite randomly, Corrie jumped forward in a stance for a high shot, but his sabre shot low.

Macu jumped up over the sabre and gave Corrie a 'what was that, you lunatic?' look, before thrusting forward, forcing Corrie to jump up into a flip with a yelp.

Qui-Gon laughed as Mace rolled his eyes. All of the Knights and Masters were looking at Obi-Wan. "Yes, I know." he sighed.

They all turned their attention back onto the pair as Macu continued to attack very successfully, and Corrie scooted backwards as Macu drove him to the edge of the platform. The human quickly ducked a volley of blows before doing a force assisted jump. Macu automatically spun around, assuming he would jump over the top of him, but Corrie merely fell down and gripped the edge of the platform, before jumping back up again and quickly attacking Macu from behind before he could turn around again.

Macu didn't seem too happy about it.

Turning to his old Apprentice, Qui-Gon delighted in the smug grin on his face.

"I see you'll be having quite a bit of fun with technique, won't you, Obi?" Mace asked.

Obi-Wan just grinned at him lazily.

"He doesn't need technique if he can do that." Qui-Gon shot back, winking at Obi-Wan. "But he'll simply absorb it if he's around my old Padawan."

Obi-Wan's smug look quickly turned into a pout, and Qui-Gon barked a laugh before turning back to watch the end of the duels.

Jonah's duels went quickly. They were both relatively early, and although she was distracted, she managed to earn herself a 4 out of 5 against Crawen and a 3 against Arak. However, with the duels out of the way, she had nothing to fill her time as she waited impatiently for eleven 'o'clock to come around. It was 10:54, and she had been watching the clock for the last hour and a half. Both Reeka and Crake had gone out already and hadn't come back.

She didn't know what was going to happen at eleven, and frankly, she didn't want to. She had surmised that it would be one of those challenges on the fancy poles in the room that had appeared from nowhere, which the Initiates had labelled the Phantom Room.

Living Force, Reflex Thinking or Technology…Living Force, Reflex Thinking or Technology…

Growling under her breath, Jonah looked at the chrono. 10:57. Time to go. Sighing, she quickly grabbed Rags' hand and squeezed it for good luck before standing up. Closing her eyes briefly, she collected herself before leaving for the Dining Hall.


End file.
